There was no Main (SLS) channel deployment on Tuesday, April 26th.
One Wednesday, April 27th, all three RC channels should receive the same server maintenance package, comprising a server crash fix and some minor internal improvements
Oculus Rift project viewer, version 3.7.18.295296, dated October 13th, 2015 – Oculus Rift DK2 support (download and release notes)
Obsolete platform viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, dated May 8th, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7 (download and release notes).
There are no scheduled deployments for week #16. The next deployment should be to the RC channels in week #17 (week commencing Monday, April 25th). This is liable to include at least one fix to help prevent simulator crashes.
SL Viewer Updates
Both of the current RC viewers were updated on Friday, April 15th.
The Maintenance RC, which includes fixes for crashes, memory leaks, input/cursor issues, graphics bugs. invisiprims, formatting, notifications and more, was updated to version 4.0.4.314012. See my notes on the invisiprim tweak here.
The Quick Graphics RC viewer, containing the new Avatar Complexity capabilities and the graphic presets support updated to version 4.0.4.313948.
Depending on the stats gathered on these versions, one of them might be updated to the de facto release viewer later in the week (although I’m guessing there may not be a promotion until week #17).
This leaves the complete list of official viewers as:
Current Release version: 4.0.3.312816 (dated March 23), April 1 – formerly the HTTP / Vixox RC viewer download page, release notes
TC viewers – as indicated above
Project viewers:
Project Bento (avatar skeleton extensions) updated to version 5.0.0.313876 on April 15 – an updated set of bones for the Bento skeleton.
Oculus Rift project viewer updated to version 3.7.18.295296 on October 13, 2015 – Oculus Rift DK2 support
Obsolete platform viewer version 3.7.28.300847 dated May 8, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.
News is once again light at the start of the week. Expect more from the Bento and TPVD meetings at the end of the week 🙂 .
On Tuesday, April 12th, the main (SLS) grid was updated with the server maintenance package previously deployed to the three RC channels in week #14. This comprises a fix for (non-public) BUG-11163llHTTPRequest returns 400 from some sims and not others, and some minor internal fixes.
Commenting on the llHHTTPRequest update at the Simulator User Group meeting on Tuesday, April 12th, Oz described the reason for the update as follows:
Some time ago I changed the code so that when LSL sends an HTTP request it is more explicit about what MIME types it will accept. That uncovered a much older bug in how the list of acceptable types was maintained; when a region updated its configuration, the list got duplicates. When all we were using the list for was checking a response, all that cost was a tiny bit of extra time, but when we started sending them it caused requests the servers sometimes didn’t like.
SL Viewer
There has been no change to the current list of official viewers since my last update.
Current Release version: 4.0.3.312816 (dated March 23), April 1 – formerly the HTTP / Vixox RC viewer download page, release notes
Maintenance RC viewer 4.0.4.313759 release on April 8 – fixes for iewer crashes, memory leaks, input/cursor issues, graphics bugs, invisiprims, formatting and notifications (download and release notes)
Quick Graphics RC viewer updated to version 4.0.2.312297 on March 11 – provides the new Avatar Complexity options and the new graphics preset capabilities for setting, saving and restoring graphic settings for use in difference environments / circumstances (download and release notes)
Project viewers:
Project Bento (avatar skeleton extensions) updated to version 5.0.0.313150 on March 29 – an updated set of bones for the Bento skeleton. The skeleton changes are (download and release notes)
Oculus Rift project viewer updated to version 3.7.18.295296 on October 13, 2015 – Oculus Rift DK2 support (download and release notes)
Obsolete platform viewer version 3.7.28.300847 dated May 8, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7. This viewer will remain available for as long as reasonable, but will not be updated with new features or bug fixes and will not be promoted to release status (download and release notes)
Aditi Issues
Inventory Syncing
Work is continuing on the Aditi inventory syncing issues (see here for details). In terms of the local caching issues previously reported (see also BUG-11651) , the Lab is testing a build of the viewer which will create separate inventory .gz files for Agni and Aditi, and which appears to overcome the issues of “phantom” Aditi assets appearing in Agni inventory and Aditi assets apparently “vanishing” from Aditi inventory, both until such time as the viewer cache is cleared.
The updated test viewer creates individual inv.gz files for Aditi (red) and Agni (blue) inventories, thus avoiding the issues reported in BUG-11651 (with thanks to Whirly Fizzle for the pointer)
The Calling Card and Favourite folders are also being synced at the moment, although it looks like these will be excluded (as had been the plan) alongside the Current Outfit Folder.
Aditi log-ins
Some people are still having issues logging-in to their last location on Aditi. When attempting to log-in, people either have to wait an age or, when eventually logged-in, arrive an a random location on the Beta grid. Not all users logging-in to Aditi are affect, but for those who are, the problem is persistent, and has been for a number of months. There is some speculation that the issue might be inventory related, as was the case a couple of years back (see BUG-7707), and the Lab are going to poke at this to see if something similar is again occurring.
There was no scheduled deployment to the Main (SLS) channel this week. All three RC channels received the same server maintenance package, comprising a fix for (non-public) BUG-11163llHTTPRequest returns 400 from some sims and not others, and some minor improvements. Assuming nothing goes sideways with this update, it should be promoted to the Main channel in week #15 (commencing Monday, April 11th).
It is currently not clear if there will be a further update to the TC channel in week #15; this will apparently be determined on work being carried out over the next few days.
SL Viewer
Current Release Version – HTTP / Vivox Updates
The HTTP / Vivox RC viewer was promoted to the de facto release viewer at the end of week #13. Version 4.0.3.312816 (dated March 23rd) presents a complete replacement of the under the hood HTTP infrastructure, replacing the self deleting responders with coroutine implementations for improved performance and stability, and to provide finer grained concurrency allowing the Viewer greater control over the numbers and types of HTTP requests that can be simultaneously outstanding.
The HTTP changes affect all areas of the viewer that use Sim Capabilities. These include, but are not limited to:
Alongside of this work, undertaken by Rider Linden to extend Monty Linden’s previous work on HTTP, this viewer sees the removal of a considerable amount of deprecated and unused code, and a range of Voice fixes and improvements.
Remaining Viewer Channels
The promotion of the HTTP / Vivox viewer leaves the remaining viewer channels as follows:
Release candidate cohorts:
Quick Graphics RC viewer, version 4.0.2.312297, dated March 11th – awaiting update to bring it to parity with the release viewer
Project Viewers:
Oculus Rift project viewer updated to version 3.7.18.295296 on October 13, 2015 – Oculus Rift DK2 support (download and release notes)
Obsolete platform viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, dated May 8th, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7 – expect this viewer to potentially vanish once TLS 1.2 is implemented.
There are no scheduled deployments or restarts planned for the week. The next deployment should occur in week #14 (week commencing Monday, April 4th, when the release candidate channels should receive a server maintenance package containing some (as yet) unspecified fixes.
SL Viewer
The Project Bento viewer, containing the new avatar skeleton extensions, updated on Tuesday March 29th to version 5.0.0.313150. The remaining viewer channels remain unchanged from the end of week #12:
Current Release version: 4.0.2.312269, dated March 17th – formerly the Maintenance RC viewer
Release candidate cohorts:
HTTP updates and Vivox RC viewer, version 4.0.3.312816, dated March 23rd – probably the next viewer in line to be promoted to the de facto release status
Quick Graphics RC viewer, version 4.0.2.312297, dated March 11th – possibly to go through a further update (tests were being carried out with the Avatar Complexity settings in week #12)
Project viewers:
Oculus Rift project viewer updated to version 3.7.18.295296 on October 13, 2015 – Oculus Rift DK2 support (download and release notes)
Obsolete platform viewer, version 3.7.28.300847, dated May 8th, 2015 – provided for users on Windows XP and OS X versions below 10.7.
Aditi Inventory Problems
As noted in part #2 of my last project update, there are issues with the new Aditi inventory syncing mechanism.
One issue is that items created on Aditi following one inventory syncing process will disappear from inventory when logging into Aditi following the next inventory syncing run (see BUG-11651).
This is likely the result of the viewer using the same cache, regardless of the grid you log-in to. The current fix is therefore to clear the viewer cache completely or to delete the inventory .gz files from your cache folder), and then log back into Aditi.
However, this approach in turn causes an issue of its own.
When logging back into Agni (the main grid) after clearing cache as described above, the Aditi assets will appear to be listed in your Agni inventory. However, any attempt to rez or wear or share the assets from Aditi will result in an error message, because the assets themselves are not physically part of your Agni inventory. Again, the solution is to clear cache / remove the inventory .gz files from your viewer cache and re-log into Agni.
Also noted in the JIRA is this issue results in some very odd duplication of Calling Cards on Aditi.
The Solution
The desired fix is to have different inventory caches for each grid visited, and as noted in the JIRA report, this is how the Lab intends to proceed.
Invisiprims
As noted in the part #3 of my last project update, there is a new issue with invisiprims, which sees any object, worn or in-world, using the texture UUIDs associated with them rendered at a solid grey or black surface or object, regardless of whether ALM is enabled in the viewer or not. Prior to this issue occurring, the result of a change made in the current release viewer (version 4.0.2.312269), invisiprims would either mask whatever was behind them with ALM off, or simply be ignored if the viewer was running with ALM enabled.
The new invisiprim issue is that regardless of whether a viewer is running with ALM disabled (l) or enabled (r), worn or in-world objects using them now appear either solid grey or black (click image for full size, if required)
As having grey surfaces and objects appearing on avatars in in-world (remembering that there is a lot of old, No Mod content in-world which makes extensive use of invisiprims and their associated textures, and this approach makes them look very unsightly to anyone viewing them), the suggestion has been put forward that the viewer should be modified to simply ignore the invisiprim texture UUIDs or treat them simply as “normal” transparent textures regardless of whether or not ALM is enabled in the viewer, and a fix has been submitted to the Lab to achieve this.
Asked during the Simulator User Group meeting on Tuesday, March 29th, if the Lab had reached a decision on adopting the fix, Simon Linden said, “We were talking about it earlier … nobody wants to do anything to break content; so we have the hole-in-the-water use, which is nice for boats and such.”
Oz Linden then added, “We’re going to do some testing of alternatives… so I guess the answer is that we don’t have a final decision yet.”
Invisiprims: with ALM disabled (left) and ALM enabled (right); and as they appear now in the official viewer, with or without ALM enabled (click for full size, if required)
As noted in my week #11 update, the current release of the LL viewer now effectively “breaks” the remaining invisiprim capability in the viewer, with any object or surface using them rendered as either solid grey or black, something which is seen as less than optimal with regards to long-standing in-world content, prompting some debate as who should be done with invisiprims going forward.
To understand what has been discussed, and what is likely to be done, it is necessary to dip back into some history.
Background
One upon a time, Invisiprims were the means of achieving an alpha mask effect. For example, their use in footwear meant that an avatar’s feet could be masked to prevent them showing through shoes and boots. They could also be used in-world as well, a typical example being their use to mask Linden Water from being seen inside boat hulls or things like dry docks – one of the most famous examples being the dry dock at Nautilus (shown below).
As it used to be: the Nautilus dry dock uses an invisiprim to mask the Linden Water. For the last several years, this has only worked when the Advanced Lighting Model (ALM) in the viewer is disabled
Invisiprims were able to do this by making use of two unique texture UUIDs within the viewer which, when called, would act as alpha masks. However, this always came as a cost to rendering, and could lead to unpredictable results (e.g. glitches with rendering, odd interactions between the invisiprim textures and other textures, etc.). Because these issues became particularly problematic when using some of the advanced rendering capabilities (what is now called the Advanced Lighting Model or ALM) in the viewer, a decision was taken a number of years ago to have ALM ignore the alpha masking effect of the invisiprim texture UUIDs.
Thus, anyone running the viewer with ALM enabled for the last several years has not seen the masking effects of invisiprims; avatar body parts show through wearable items which use them, for example (hence the adoption of more efficient alpha layers by clothing and accessory designers). Nor do in-world invisiprims act a masks for things like Linden Water when viewed with ALM active (as illustrated below), although they would still alpha mask if ALM was disabled in the viewer.
Following the changes made a few years ago to the Advanced Lighting Model, the “magic” invisiprim texture UUIDs are ignored during rendering, with the result that they no longer mask things like Linden Water when seen in a viewer with ALM enabled
While this latter point – the lack of ability to hide things like Linden Water from view – may have appeared less than perfect at the time the changes were made, it has over the ensuing years become accepted behaviour when seen in-world. So what has now changed to once again make invisiprims a subject of discussion?
The New Problem and Its Proposed Solution
In short, a recent change to the viewer rendering system, (found in the current release viewer, 4.0.2.312269) means that anything using the invisiprim texture UUIDs is now seen as a sold grey or black surface / object regardless as to whether ALM is enabled in the viewer or not. This has led a lot of long-standing, No Mod in-world content looking distinctly odd and unsightly (shown below, again using the Nautilus dry dock).
A change to the 4.0.2.312269 release viewer means that invisprims now render as solid grey or black surfaces / objects whether or not ALM is enabled in the viewer. With in-world content, this has led to some unsightly results, such as the Nautilus dry dock looking like it has been filled with cement (click image for full size, if required)
BUG-11562 was raised highlighting this latter impact to in-world content, with a request that the change be updated so that any surface using the “magic” invisiprim UUIDs is simply rendered as “invisible” (i.e. transparent, as is the case when running with ALM enabled). There has also been some debate among TPV developers about how to adopt the Lab’s code change, as well as the matter being discussed at both the Open-Source Developer meeting and the TPVD meeting held on March 25th, 2016 (audio extract below).
The latter discussions have resulted in both the Lab and TPV developers agreeing that the best solution would be to follow the BUG-11562 suggestion, and have surfaces and objects using the invisiprim UUIDs render and transparent objects whether or not ALM is enabled in the viewer.
A change to support this has already be submitted to the Lab to achieve this. Subject to further testing, it, or a solution similar to it, is likely to be integrated into a future viewer update.
![[G]aio; Inara Pey, March 2016, on Flickr](https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1581/25472227673_4c0f1a4312_o.jpg)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 